Enterprise Content Management (ECM) relates to systems and methods to generate, store, manage and share content related to organizational processes of an enterprise. The content can be embodied in a paper document, an electronic file, a database, a message exchange or an email, among others. In modern ECM systems, the content is typically stored and managed as electronic, digital data on a single platform.
Enterprise content management (ECM) covers a broad range of applications, including document management (DM), Web content management (WCM), records management (RM), digital asset management (DAM), search of managed content, and the like. A content management system (CMS) suitable for managing the various content (also referred to herein generically as “files”) that an enterprise produces or generates, retains or otherwise stores, manipulates or modifies, etc. can support the requirements of one or more of such applications, and optionally other requirements, to provide a coherent solution in which content and management processes are capable of accessing content across a variety of applications subject to access controls, permissions, and the like. Content managed by a CMS can include one or more of documents, images, photos, Web pages, records, XML documents, other unstructured or semi-structured files, etc. An “enterprise” can generally refer to an organization, such as for example a business, a foundation, a university, or the like, and can have content requirements related to one or more business processes, content uses, etc.
A CMS manages the actual digital binary content, metadata or other record that describes a context or content object of each content item, associations between a content item and other content or content items, a place and classification of a content item in a repository, indexes for finding and accessing content items, etc. The CMS can manage processes and lifecycles of content items to ensure that this information is correct. The CMS can also manage one or more workflows for capturing, storing, and distributing content, as well as the lifecycle for how long content will be retained and what happens after that retention period.
Conventional ECM and CMS platforms deliver collaboration and control in an organization by managing workflows of millions of documents, complex processes and potentially thousands of users, but are suited for “on-premise” workflows, i.e. on the organization's network within a firewall. Today however, new mobile computing devices, remote working styles and an expanding network of external contractors, agencies and suppliers, which are considered part of a distributed computing architecture called “the cloud,” create new issues and challenges for ECM system in managing collaboration between on-premise and cloud workflows. For instance, content cannot be pushed from the cloud to an on-premise workflow through a firewall, only pulled from the cloud by the on-premise system. Further, using conventional polling mechanisms between an on-premise workflow and a cloud workflow risks potential timing issues. These and other issues present serious challenges for effective collaboration and control and process automation.